By popular demand we are adding a new closing session to this year’s annual conference in Southport 16 – 17 June. Professor Steve Fothergill will end this year’s event at midday on Tuesday 17th with the first public airing of the key findings of the new report “Seaside Town in the Age of Austerity – Recent trends in employment in seaside tourism in England and Wales”. Commissioned by British Destinations and partners including Visit Wales and BACTA, the full report will be published later in the summer. Although the report looks specifically at the seaside tourism economy in c 120 small, medium and larger seaside resort towns in England and Wales, there are a number of key trends and observations that will have resonance with other popular destinations across the UK and which point towards much wider issues of significance to domestic tourism in general as the economic recovery begins. The aim of this session is to give delegates an opportunity to hear and comment on the findings in order to help us direct how the report will be used once published.